DALLAS – Peter Budaj will be between the pipes tonight against Dallas. Haven’t gotten any “reason” for that, but there isn’t much to speculate about. It’s the second of a back-to-back game nights, and Budaj has earned more playing time with the job he did while Anderson was out.

Some other media outlets have reported that Anderson will start again tonight, and that Joe Sacco said after last night’s game he would go with Andy again. But he never said that.

There are no other lineup changes planned tonight, though. Kyle Quincey and Jonas Holos will be healthy scratches, along with David Koci.

First off, thanks to readers of the blog, and the judges at Westword, for bestowing All Things Avs as the best sports blog in Denver. In 2010, I’ll take winning that kind of award over most any other traditional journalism award, so thanks.

About tonight’s game: Once again, a team got Matt Duchene hot under the collar and paid for it. Howdy Doody turns into Dirty Harry at the slightest provocation, looks like. So it was tonight, when Ruslan Fedotenko foolishly cross-checked Dutchy in the face, when he wasn’t looking.

Duchene picked himself up, collected himself, then collected a goal and two assists in about 10 minutes. That was your game, basically.

The Rangers looked slooooowwww on the back end, no match for the Avs’ speed overall. That obviously didn’t make Rangers coach John Tortorella very happy afterward. Tortorella – who I love as a coach – had one of his patented awkward, uncomfortable, seething press conferences after the game. My favorite quote: “I don’t give a damn about Craig Anderson.”

A lot of Eastern teams come into Denver and think they can play the same style they’re familiar with back east, and it doesn’t usually work well. Eastern teams are a little too casual with the puck and think they can play a nice easy style of game, but they find out quick that the pace is a lot faster and the game more physical than they might have thought. The West has gotten labeled as a run-and-gun conference, but the truth is it’s a hard-hitting, fast style that requires everyone to be “hard on the puck.” The Rangers weren’t hard on the puck tonight.

I thought Craig Anderson looked great for his first game game back, and I also thought Duchene really took over in that 10-minute span in the second.
Here are his postgame comments:

Just posted a story on the mothership site, saying that Craig Anderson is starting in net tonight.
A bit of a surprise, yes, but maybe not really when you really think about it. The unofficial rule in hockey is that the starting goalie gets the job back when he’s cleared to play from an injury, and Andy is now. So, he’s in against Marian Gaborik and the Blueshirts tonight.

Joe Sacco said he’d wait and see who will start tomorrow at Dallas.

Jonas Holos benched again for tonight. Ryan “minus-2” Wilson in again, along with partner Adam Foote. When asked why Holos isn’t in the lineup, Sacco said “I thought his play dropped the last couple games. I think the ice time caught up with him.”

Colorado Avalanche Kevin Porter (12) gets mobbed by teammates after his game winning goal in overtime to defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 November 17, 2010 at Pepsi Center. John Leyba, The Denver Post

A lot of “get me rewrite” up in the press box tonight. The done-like-dinner Avs come back to win a shocker instead over the Sharks, which might not have been as big a surprise as who scored the OT winner – Kevin Porter – and how he scored.

That was a genuinely great goal the occasionally-maligned Porter scored. I guess that’s why the kid once won a Hobey Baker, yeah?

Biggest play of the night for my money though? The combination heads-up pass by John Liles – capitalizing after Joe Thornton foolishly went to retrieve his lost stick in the Avs’ zone instead of doing what you’re taught to do in hockey, go to the bench and get a twig from a teammate and stay in the play defensively – and sick wrister from Chris Stewart for the goal that made it 3-2.

Stewart was a beast in the final 12 minutes, and his goal woke everybody up. Unfortunately for the Avs, that didn’t include many fans in the stands. Ace columnist colleague Mark Kiszla takes a look at the Avs’ ongoing attendance problems in his piece for tomorrow’s Post. Only 12,436 announced tonight – and that was the announced crowd. In other words, that was the “Here’s the number we’ll make up to make it look more respectable” figure given by the Burgundy and Blue.

I’m not going to harp forever on the attendance, and I’m not going to throw you, the fans, under the bus for it. It’s always the fault of the team when they don’t sell tickets. It’s their problem to solve, not yours. But the fact is, the Avs entered the game ranked 25th in the NHL in attendance, were 27th last season and 26th the year before.

But back to the game: A feelgood win for the Avs, but let’s not ignore some of the alarm bells either. They were outshot 43-22 – though some of that had to do with the disparity in power plays. Then again, you make your own man-advantage situations with your play, and vice-versa.

The defensive combo of Ryan Wilson and Adam Foote, as anyone who saw the game knows, had some major problems tonight. Fact is, they had big-time issues the other night against St. Louis too. Both were a minus-2 tonight, were on the ice for all three Sharks goals and were lucky they weren’t assessed a fourth when a Sharks goal was disallowed on video review in the third (a no-goal coach Joe Sacco called a “fortunate break for us.”)

The question going forward is: how do you justify playing either guy right now over Jonas Holos? And what do you do when Kyle Quincey comes back, which should be soon?

My opinion: Holos should be in, and you can take your pick right now over who to bench, between Wilson or Foote. Sacco got off the hook a bit tonight with the comeback, because we were all ready to get out the long knives over his decision to bench the well-playing Holos in favor of Wilson.

If Holos is benched again, then Sacco clearly will have bent his rule of “we’re going to play the players who are doing the best job and give us the best chance to win” mantra.

I’m not saying Holos was playing like Bobby Orr, but there’s no way Wilson/Foote have been better than him of late.

The other question that’s starting to brew: should Peter Budaj be put back on the bench when Craig Anderson is cleared to return, which should be any day now?

Budaj was excellent after the Sharks made it a 3-1 game on a soft goal, so give him credit. But Anderson not only deserves, but will get the starting job when he’s ready. If he’s terrible for two or three straight games after that? Then maybe we’ll have a goaltending controversy on our hands. But for now Budaj has proven himself to be a capable backup and deserves huge credit for keeping the team afloat in Anderson’s absence. Yes, Budaj has also benefited from his team being one of the highest-scoring in the league. But the right thing to do is to give Anderson the top job back and let him prove again that he had it previously for a reason.

Some links:
– The postgame podcast of Avs radio man Marc Moser, which includes the entertaining call of the Porter goal. It’s about halfway through the thingy.

Just posted word on the mothership site about Kyle Quincey becoming concussion victim No. 4 on the Avalanche. He’s listed as out indefinitely. In other words, at least a handful of weeks.

Bad news, because they’re going to miss Quincey’s size. No, he hadn’t done much of anything offensively all year, but he’s still a big body who ate up minutes. One would assume Quincey suffered the injury against Dallas Saturday, a game in which he went plus-3. But details at this hour of how it and happened and when the problems started are vague. I know that comes as a shock.

It was just one game. One of the rookies I’m about to lobby for to stay with the Avs, Colby Cohen, took two minor penalties in the game.

But anybody who watched Saturday’s 5-0 Avs win over Dallas had to be struck by how much fresher the team’s defense looked with Cohen and fellow rookie Kevin Shattenkirk in the lineup. With the addition of just two guys, the Avs’ defense went from the stale, predictable unit to one that had youthful enthusiasm and, most of all, flashes of some great talent that, with more experience, should continue to grow.

Vancouver Canucks G Cory Schneider (35) makes a save as the puck pops up in front of him in the first period November 4, 2010 at Pepsi Center. John Leyba, The Denver Post

I’m not going to go on and on tonight here. Most of you probably saw the game and came away with the same impression I did: that the Colorado Avalanche was one bad hockey club. But I think we’ve also all learned that this team tends to have lots of ups and downs, and not to overreact too much to one loss.

The big story wasn’t so much the result, a loss in early November, but the benching of Matt Duchene by coach Joe Sacco for most of the second period. More of what went down is spelled out here in colleague Mark Kiszla’s excellent column.

This is going to be very big, seeing how he responds not only Saturday but in the few games after that. He was essentially singled out tonight by the coach, not only in the game but after (video below).

Sacco has never publicly bad-mouthed Duchene’s play before, even when it might have warranted it at times, but tonight he definitely sounded like the dad who had to take the car keys away finally.

No Adam Foote or Kyle Cumiskey at practice today. Both are out with concussions. I guess it’s a bit of a setback in that Foote hasn’t even skated yet since suffering his a couple weeks ago.

Joe Sacco said Foote is feeling a little better every day, but at this stage you’d had to say that until he skates at a real practice, it’s always going to be at least a week away before he might play. Same probably goes for Cumiskey.

Avs have not called any D-man up from Lake Erie as of this writing, but Sacco said that may happen later tonight after the staff talked.

Craig Anderson did not practice. He skated on his own some Monday, but didn’t at all today. The official line on him is that he’s out indefinitely, and so that’s the way I’m going to treat this thing. I have guessed it would be 2-3 weeks and I guess I’ll stick with that, but I’m not a doctor.

Want to see Ryan O’Reilly flip a lot of backhanders on net after practice today? Here you go. As usual, “The Factor” was last off the ice:

From the morning skate: Coach Sacco is sick and couldn’t make it here this morning, and the Avs aren’t sure he’ll be able to coach against the Blue Jackets tonight or not. He’s got some kind of ailment, and that’s all I know.
*Update: He did coach

Kevin Porter looks to be the lone healthy scratch against the Jackets, who have won three straight.

There was no update of any kind on injured goalie Craig Anderson. He was not on the ice, and I didn’t see him around the rink. Captain Adam Foote also did not skate, still out with a concussion. Enforcer David Koci has not been cleared yet to return from a broken jaw, but Thursday night is a possibility.

As noted in a story over at the mothership site (along with updates on his injury), no contract extension talks have yet to take place this season between Craig Anderson and his agent, a man named Justin Duberman, and Burgundy and Blue managment.

Do I find that surprising? Maybe a little, but let’s not trash the team just yet. There are obviously quite a few days left between now and July 1st, 2011, when Andy could become an unrestricted free agent.

I don’t want to put words in Greg Sherman’s mouth, or Pierre Lacroix’s or Stan/Josh Kroenke’s. But I think it’s obvious what the strategic thinking is on Anderson:“Let’s wait and see how he performs again for a good portion of this year before we back up the money truck. Let’s keep that carrot dangling in front of him a while longer, and maybe get a win-win situation. The better he plays, the more money he knows he’ll make and the better he plays, the more we win hockey games.”

Of course, there’s some risk in that strategy, but I don’t think it’s out of line. The only risk is Andy having another big year, not feeling appreciated enough by the organization for putting him through the stress of the contract year and saying see-ya in July for another team.

Anderson getting away for nothing is the worst-case scenario, but that’s a long ways off. And just because no talks have happened yet doesn’t mean it can’t all happen in an instant, with one good offer convincing Andy to sign on the dotted line.

The Avs are going to have to keep spending money to stay in line with the NHL salary cap, and giving Craig Anderson a good chunk of change to get there sounds like a solid plan to me.

But what do you think? Smart of the Avs to keep Andy hungry for that next contract, or potentially hazardous and dumb?

Before I leave, a couple links:
– My list of the top five sayings that, when you hear them, you know a team is in trouble.

– An Avs blogger is getting tired of everybody wiping their feet on Peter Budaj.

From the practice rink: Scott Hannan is back with the Avs, after missing the second half of Saturday’s game with a head injury. He’s out there looking no worse for wear, so we’ll assume he’s back in the lineup tomorrow at Vancouver.

Adam Foote, however, is not on the practice ice and we’ll have to assume that means he’s not going on the road trip.

Looks like all the lines from the last game are the same. Kyle Quincey is now paired with Jonas Holos on defense, while Kyle Cumiskey and John Liles are now paired together.

It always seems to happen, right? The first law of Avalanche hockey is that Any Ex Player Must Get a Goal Against Them In a Game. I mean, really – Brad Richardson gets the hat trick at the Pepsi Center tonight?

But that’s just the way it always is, right? Just off the top of my head, I can think of numerous great games by ex-Avs in their first or in a series of games against them over the years.

– Peter Forsberg’s two-goal game against them in Philly his first game. His killer assist to ex-Av Paul Kariya for Nashville that knocked the Avs out of the playoff picture in 2007.
– Dan Hinote scoring a couple times against them with St. Louis. Dan Hinote!
– Jeff Finger for the Maple Leafs. He’s not even in the league right now.
– Teemu Selanne with about 50 goals for Anaheim since he left in 2004.
– Chris Drury with a couple of big goals for Calgary and Buffalo.
– Wojtek Wolski with a game-winner his first game against the Avs last year for Phoenix.
– Mike Keane with huge goals for Dallas in the 1998 playoffs.
– Mike Ricci with some big games for San Jose.

Avs just not good enough again tonight on special teams. The PK has now given up nine goals, second most in the league, and nobody has allowed more short-handed goals than Colorado’s four (and the real number should be five). Richardson’s shot in the yawning net vacated by Craig Anderson was the killer this time. It was a mistake by Anderson, but Jarret Stoll made an awfully good play intercepting his clearout attempt, and as Anderson himself said after the game, he felt his D was caught flat-footed and he needed to make a quick decision on the play. He still accepted responsibility for the play.

But the fact is, there shouldn’t have been any need for him to come out of the net so much, but the Avs’ sloppy play with the puck again on the PP created a dangerous situation in their own end.

Anderson has bailed this team out too much over the last 12 months to start getting all over him. He had a bad night, yes, but he’s not the big problem on this team right now.

The problem, as Joe Sacco alluded to after the game, is that the Avs are just too easy to play against right now in their own end. The defense not only is short-handed right now, with Adam Foote and, now, Scott Hannan out of the lineup, but even with them they have been too mediocre for a while now. They’re too small, not physical enough and get pinned in their own end too easily because of that and all-too-often sloppy passing and overall care of the puck.

Exhibit A tonight was a shift in which the two Kyles – Cumiskey and Quincey – were caught chasing the puck for nearly two solid minutes against the Anze Kopitar line on one shift. (The third line tonight, of Daniel Winnik-Ryan O’Reilly-Brandon Yip was on the ice too, and did the D no favors there, or in general all night).

Now the Avs go on the road to Vancouver, where a loss would put them under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2008-09 season. It’s early of course, but it doesn’t take much to get worried in the Western Conference, which is just brutally tough.

Fall into an early hole, and that can be it in this conference. Bottom line is, the Avs have to do something about their defense and penalty-killing. Oh, but they better not trade anybody in doing so. Because we know they’ll come back to burn them if they do.

Other notes:
– TJ Galiardi seemed OK after the game. He took a stick to the privates from Wayne Simmonds, which drew a 5-minute major. I bet Simmonds gets off from being suspended, because Galiardi wasn’t seriously hurt after all, but it was a cheapshot. Simmonds gave me a terse “no comment” after the game when I asked him about it.

– Scott Hannan walked out of the arena on his own power, and I think he’ll be OK, but for now he’s out with a head injury and you never know. We’ll know more tomorrow.

From the morning skate here, the news is that forward David Van Der Gulik will make his Avalanche debut tonight against the L.A. Kings.

The former Boston University forward got the callup a couple days ago, but didn’t play against the Sharks. He has six games of NHL experience on his resume, for Calgary in 2008-09 – getting two assists.

Van Der Gulik playing means one forward will sit out, and the Avs say that will be determined after warmup tonight. However, Cody McLeod was seemingly the odd man out in line rushes at the skate, so it’s possible he could be the scratch. The Highlander has played hard as usual of late, but he does have only one point in seven games and a minus-1.

The Avs last night recalled D-man David Liffiton from Lake Erie, but he won’t play tonight. The Avs will go back to six D-men against the Kings. We’re not sure who will play with Kyle Cumiskey in Adam Foote’s absence. Joe Sacco said he was still tinkering with his pairings a little.

Foote, by the way, will be re-evaluated Monday and a determination will be made then if he’ll go on the road trip with the team. His concussion does not appear to be overly serious, but again that’s preliminary.

Avs need good games from Stastny and Duchene tonight, some points anyway. When a reporter (me) asked Sacco this morning whether he expected a bounce-back game from Duchene tonight after a three-penalty showing against the Sharks, he said “I thought he played well. Other than the penalties, I thought he was good.”
Well, OK then. That falls into the category somewhat of “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”, but whatever.

Here’s some video of tonight’s opposition, skating at the Pepsi Center.

For the Kings, Matt Greene will return to the lineup after off-season shoulder surgery.
Here’s coach Terry Murray talking about that and his team overall. Murray made an interesting point, not on this video: teams are playing more of a trap again, from the red line in to their zone. That’s making it harder to get into the zone, and placing a premium on making good dump-ins and not turning the puck over around the middle of the ice, especially with teams so much faster in general than they used to be.

Tough loss for the Avs today, with Adam Foote going on the shelf with a concussion. I don’t believe it is as serious as, say, Peter Mueller’s concussion(s), but he won’t play tomorrow against the Kings and he’s probably out at least a week, and likely a bit more than that.

That means guys like Jonas Holos will get more ice time and responsibility, and here is the young Norwegian’s view on that and his play overall after his first three NHL games.

Avs spent a lot of time at practice today on special teams. Also, coach Sacco spent some time personally working with Matt Duchene, Chris Stewart and Brandon Yip at one end of the ice near the end, feeding them pucks for one-timers.
Here’s a snapshot of that:

Also: Peter Mueller has been hanging around the rink more often of late. He has not resumed skating and nobody has any idea when he might be back, but he seems to be feeling better to at least be around the team more now. Before, he wasn’t even doing that.

NEW YORK — Avs finish up the long road trip tonight against the short-handed Blueshirts. No Gaborik, no Drury, no Prospal for the Rangers. But any team coached by John Tortorella is going to play hard. Plus, we’ll be treated to some Sean Avery antics I’m sure.
Here’s some video of the Avs skating this morning at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.

No word on the scratches for tonight yet, but Adam Foote WILL be in the lineup. That means someone will have to sit among the other D-men, which should make for a fascinating guessing game for the next 30-40 minutes.
Check Denverpost.com for a story on today’s skate in a little bit.

*Update: Joe Sacco said he is “leaning” toward skating all seven defensemen tonight. He said Holos’ play Saturday was good and that he likes the right-handed shot he brings to the PP. So, Sacco said he’d likely dress only 11 forwards.

SYOSSET, N.Y. – Strange game tonight in a lot of ways. Another short-handed goal, a weird shot from the far right boards that found a way to get past Craig Anderson, a lot of weird calls by referees. But the bottom line: the boys in Burgundy and Blue weren’t as good as the boys in blue and orange in the little things, and that’s why the visitors left the Nassau Coliseum 5-2 losers.

Concern about the Avs’ power play is obviously getting deeper. With Peter Mueller apparently still a long ways off from returning – if he returns at all – the Avs are a team in serious need of some kind of change on the PP.

The Avs need to get a power-play quarterback. John Liles has a point in all five games (leading the league in assists with seven), but he’s not a QB type of guy on the PP. More of a complementary guy. Kyle Cumiskey has been, to put it kindly, awful so far on the power play. He won’t shoot the puck. He’s always looking to dish it off, and he always takes a second too long to make a decision with it on the PP. Kyle Quincey moves the puck too slowly on the PP and almost never hits the net with a shot. Milan Hejduk is a disaster as a point guy (he was particularly awful tonight overall. Hejduk has one point in five games, and is a team-worst minus-6). Scott Hannan is not an offensive guy, period, Adam Foote is not a QB guy and Matt Duchene is not a good point guy.

Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk have strong potential as PP QBs, and maybe it’s time to give one of them a call up from Lake Erie. This is assuming that a really good one won’t be available too easily on the trade market. I can’t think of too many other good options right now otherwise. I actually thought Jonas Holos showed some promise as a point guy tonight. He shoots the puck and makes quick decisions. Maybe he should get more ice time going forward. But that means sitting someone else on the D.

Based on the numbers, Cumiskey might deserve a seat the most, but Joe Sacco still seems to covet his skating ability, particularly in getting the puck out of the zone. So he seems hesitant to bench him, and hurt his confidence level. But Cumiskey has one point in five games and a minus-2. He’s getting nearly 22 minutes a game right now, but has six shots overall on the season. Holos got two on net tonight, in his first game.

The Avs have to do something with their special teams. The PK has been decent at times (Daniel Winnik, I like his game), but they still give up too many good chances overall. They still get stuck in that slow-moving box too often, having to rely on Andy to bail them out.

Bottom line: the Avs still are just a little too easy to play against. They need a big, rock-em, sock-em, mobile D-man and they need more size overall. The loss of Brandon Yip (groin) hurt in that department tonight, with Kevin Porter his replacement. Porter just isn’t involved enough in the play, just too ordinary at this level.

This team will be OK. They’ve got guys who care and work hard, but the special teams are a crippling, crippling problem right now, and they have been for far too long now. It’s up to management to get moving and do something about it. Because what’s on the ice now isn’t going to cut it, it’s becoming clearer every game.

Wasn’t Ilya Kovalchuk supposed to sell some tickets in New Jersey? A shockingly bad crowd here at the Prudential Center, on a Friday night. Not that Avs can snicker too much about this, with their attendance problems of the last couple years.

Avs just played one of their worst periods in a long time, getting outshot 17-3 by the Devils, with multiple turnovers and about 10 failed easy clearouts. But the Burgundy and Blue are up 1-0 after one on a short-side power-play goal from Cody McLeod, who got kicked out of the game on the next shift for a boarding major on Jersey’s Matt Taormina.

PARAMUS, N.J. — Brian Rolston went on the shelf for the New Jersey Devils today, meaning the Devils can dress more than 15 guys for Friday’s game with the Avalanche. Now they’ve got around $5 million of theoretical cap room, because of long-term injured reserve relief (high-paid Bryce Salvador is still out for Jersey, too).

If it all sounds a little too convenient, these long-term injuries to highly paid guys for a team with severe cap problems, you’re not the only one who thinks it. But in Rolston’s case, he reportedly really is having surgery for a sports hernia.

The cap relief also makes it more unlikely a trade between the Avs and Devils will happen right now. It might still, but for now the Devils don’t have to move someone — and the Avs, with the lowest payroll in the league and in need of …something for their power play and/or defense, were seemingly good suitors.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.